National Institutes of Health Investment in Medical Research: Changes Under the Trump Administration

Local Impact of NIH Grant Terminations 

Recent grant terminations have been more extensive than in the previous decade, both nationally and in Kansas. Dr. Jeremy M. Berg, former director of the NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences, stated that between 2015 and 2024, annual NIH grant terminations averaged fewer than 20, typically due to illness or misconduct. However, since January, the Trump administration has cancelled over 2,100 grants for research related to diversity, equity and inclusion, racial disparities, vaccine hesitancy, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) issues, as well as over 160 clinical trials. The NIH has not disclosed the procedure or process used to halt grants. 

In Kansas, NIH grants fund a wide range of research. During FY 2024, Kansas-based research entities received $140,702,977 in total research funding from the NIH. The funding aims to support infrastructure, workforce development and competitiveness in science and technology through grants and partnerships across universities, government and industry. Not only do these funds aim to drive scientific discoveries, but they also provide funding for faculty salaries, graduate training and collaboration with community partners.   

Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, The University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) in Kansas City, Kansas, has seen one grant termination. At KUMC, the “Evaluating the HITSystem to Improve Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) Retention and Maternal Viral Suppression in Kenya” grant was terminated on May 15. The grant focused on adapting and scaling an e-health tool to enhance PMTCT outcomes using algorithmic alerts to support Early Infant Diagnosis providers and short message service (SMS) texts to mothers’ phones to prompt appointment attendance. KUMC partnered with global and local collaborators — including the Kenya Medical Research Institute and Children’s Mercy Hospital — to implement and evaluate the system, resulting in improvements in early diagnosis and treatment of HIV-exposed infants and reduction in the age at which HIV-positive infants began antiretroviral therapy (ART), enabling earlier treatment. The NIH awarded KUMC with $3.5M and $3.1M had been used. The remaining $374,000 was terminated.  

Though based in Missouri, the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) received NIH funding for a community-based COVID-19 testing project serving African American churches in the Kansas City metro, including in the state of Kansas. The $1.99 million grant was terminated before completion, with $1.07 million spent by March 21, 2025. The remaining $920,000 was terminated.